League of Legends: The Gaming Industry’s New Gem

The gaming community is a huge place – with games of all kinds for each and every audience. With the recent and highly sought after One World Championship, League of Legends is the PC game for each and every e-sport fanatic. Big name sports companies like ESPN even covered the competitive sport game, complimenting on the advances of Samsung White and bringing attention to the otherwise vertical market of online gaming.

The Game

League of Legends is a Multiple Player Online Battle Arena, or MOBA, designed to emulate war between teams. There’s a blue team and purple team, each with specifically chosen champions to battle one another and destroy the enemy Nexus. The Nexus is considered the end-all of the game; once players destroy the enemy Nexus, they’ve reached victory. A team’s job is to protect this precious device.

League of Legends Nexus

Champions
Released in 2009, the game is officially five years old – and in five years, League of Legends has 32 million viewers and players. In two years, players logged in over 10 million hours a day in different regions, equaling to 1,197 years. League of Legends is a game all about strategy; to date, there are more than 100 champions to play from, each with a certain set of skills, damage, and play styles. Each competitor chooses a champion that best fits his or her play style and exploits the limits of that champion.

League of Legends Champions

Power-Ups

Aesthetics are included in this game – players can purchase Riot Points, or RP, and select “skins”, specially colored and designed touch ups of their favorite champion. As of 2013, League of Legends reached an annual revenue of $600 million from RP purchases alone. Riot Points can be used to purchase icons, champions, and other goodies like ward skins, for enemy vision, and username changes to be used in game. Of course, these are all aesthetic choices and aren’t necessary to game play. It’s common for players to choose to buy skins, however, to stand out from competitors.

League of Legends Riot Points

Tournaments

With these statistics, there is seemingly no end in sight for the game; to date, 67 million people play every month, with 27 million per day. That’s a 170% increase in three years. However, statistics don’t necessarily mean that the numbers will continue increasing. As League of Legends slowly becomes what’s considered e-sports and has notice from major networks like ESPN, there may be a large number of players attempting to become the next big athletes. The grand prize for the world championship is $1 million.

League of Legends World Championship 2012, Los Angeles

Competition
A similar game called Dota 2, also a MOBA, was once considered one of the most played PC games in its prime in 2013. With the dramatic increase of players, interest in e-sports, and annual revenue of $600 million, League of Legends is believed to be top dog compared to Dota 2.

DOTA 2 Logo

A Passing Phase?
In conclusion, the gaming industry is too far in its prime to consider losing a gem like League of Legends. The figures and level of interest in the game is too high to die out any time soon. As a growing niche, the gaming community is evolving and transforming daily; it would take a bigger beast than League of Legends to knock it out completely.

About Author

Garry Erviss

Initially employed as a game tester, Garry Erviss has quickly evolved to become one of the most influential voices in the ever-changing niche of gaming. Garry is an expert game console reviewer, and his work includes meticulous reviews of PC and console games, technical advice, and also tips for a large variety of gaming-related topics.

Stephanie Clarke

I can see where you’re going. League of Legends isn’t one of those “come and go” trends. Like Starcraft, I can foresee it will continue to be an exciting e-sport for many years. I really love seeing all the colourful characters they keep bringing out. I wonder if this will inspire any more spin-offs?